Fall of the Spirits of Darkness

Schmidt Number: S-3403

On-line since: 15th January, 2008

LECTURE 3

The Search for a Perfect World

Dornach, 1 October 1917

My intention is to give a series of
lectures which will enable you to understand the present time
and the immediate future in some aspects at least. It should
be a coherent whole, but it may sometimes be necessary to go
a long way back. There will be a continuous thread through it
all, but I would ask you to see the parts always in the
context of the whole. I will sometimes go far and wide to
collect the material we need to understand the present time,
and some of it may seem remote.

When I say
‘the present time’ I mean quite a long period of
time, going back several decades and also looking decades
ahead. It is important to realize that it will be necessary
to present truths based on the science of the Spirit that in
many respects go utterly against current and generally
accepted beliefs. The world holds opinions that not only
differ but often are the direct opposite of the truths that
have to be spoken out of anthroposophy. It is only to be
expected, therefore, that people will consider these truths
to be incredible, warped and downright foolish.

When truths
which differed from generally accepted views had to be said
in the past, in order to open up a road to the future, the
difference between those truths and common opinion was
probably never as marked as it inevitably is today. This may
not be absolutely the case, but, relatively speaking, it is
so, for people are tremendously intolerant in their hearts
today and less able to accept views which differ from their
own.

In the
immediate future, people will feel more strongly than ever
before that the new and different views presented to them are
fanciful and absurd. Nevertheless, truths that until now were
closely guarded by small groups of people, with strict
silence demanded of anyone to whom they were made known, must
increasingly be made public. It does not matter how public
opinion and those who hold it react to these truths; nor do
the prejudices and counter-currents matter that are provoked
by them.

The reason for
this will be discussed later on in these lectures. To begin
with, I must speak cf some of the ways in which people will
react to truths today and in the immediate future. People
believe they have long since outgrown the illusions and
superstitions of the past, yet in some respects they are
entirely given up to illusion. There is a growing tendency to
live in illusion concerning some important and essential
aspects of the great scheme of things, and this to such an
extent that these illusions become powers that rule the
world, nations and, indeed, the whole earth. It is important
to realize this, for illusory ideas are a major element in
the chaos in which we find ourselves today; in fact, they
make it a chaos.

Let me tell
you of one common illusion which exists today and is closely
bound up with the materialistic trends of the age. It is the
growing tendency to form utterly wrong opinions about what in
the science of the spirit is called the physical plane. And
the New Testament words that are fundamental in this respect:
‘My kingdom is not of this world’,
[ Note 1 ]
are increasingly less understood
today. They are misunderstood in so far as the leading
personalities of the outer world are caught up in the
illusion that their kingdom should be very much of this
physical world.

What do I mean
to say? Anyone who is able to see the reality, and to see
through it, knows that this world on the physical plane can
never reach perfection. Yet people who think
materialistically have the illusion that perfection can be
achieved on the physical plane. This is the source of many
other illusions, and particularly and characteristically the
socialist illusion of the present age.

People's
illusions come in all shades of meaning; they are coloured by
party politics and so on. People who take a liberal view of
the world and of life have constructed their own ideal of the
physical world and believe that if they realize this we shall
have paradise on earth. All that the socialists are able to
think of is how to arrange things on this physical plane so
that everybody can live what they consider to be the good
life, the same for everybody, and so on. Their vision of the
future on this physical plane is of a wonderful paradise. Do
examine the programmes put forward by people who see
themselves as belonging to the many different socialist
parties and you will see for yourselves.

They are not
the only people, of course, who have such views and opinions.
Teachers also do, for instance. Today, every educational
agitator and writer is absolutely convinced that it is up to
him to establish the best possible educational system, the
best principles of education one can think of. And in an
absolute sense they really are the best, one cannot imagine
anything better.

To go against
such endeavours must seem sheer madness to people. The way
things are today, people simply must consider anyone who does
not want things to be the best possible in the world to be
evil-minded. One can understand people feeling this way. Yet
it is not evil-mindedness that stops us from thinking their
way but a clear vision of the truth. It tells us that it is
illusory to think such levels of perfection can be achieved
in the physical world. And if it is a law that there never
can be perfection in the physical world, just as it is a law
that the three angles in a triangle add up to 180°, then
people will simply have to face such a truth boldly and not
shrink from it.

So there you
have the kind of illusion which arises from entirely
materialistic premises. Many say they believe in the world of
the spirit, but with many of them this is mere words, nothing
but hot air. In their innermost hearts, in their feelings and
unconscious impulses, lives something different — the
inclination to think materialistically. However much people
may pretend to themselves that they believe in something
else, in reality they believe only in the physical world. And
since they do not believe in anything more than just the
physical world around them, the only ideal they can possibly
have is to arrange things in the physical world in such a way
that it becomes a paradise; otherwise the whole world would
make no sense to them. Until materialists are prepared to say
that the world makes no sense at all, they can only live in
the illusion that, however imperfect this physical world may
be, it will be possible to create conditions that will put an
end to imperfection and let perfection take its place.

Everything
coming to the fore today in this respect — in general
terms, with all kinds of political, social and other
agitators making great words about it, or in specific
instances, such as in education — is based on illusion
because people are unable to see the connections between the
physical world and the other spheres of the world. In no way
can they gain an idea of what Jesus Christ meant when he
said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world’, and why
Jesus Christ did not want to bring a kingdom of perfection to
realization here in the physical world. There is nothing in
the gospels to show that Christ intended to reform this outer
kingdom of the physical world and make it into one of
perfection. He certainly did not cherish that illusion. But
he made up for this lack of desire to establish paradise in
the physical world by giving people something which is not of
this world: to let impulses enter into their souls which are
always alive in the world but are not of this physical
world.

Illusions of
this kind dominate the human race today in the widest
possible sense, and this creates an unhealthy climate. People
are free individuals and therefore free to live in illusion.
In more down-to-earth contexts their illusions would
immediately be seen to be illusions. When we are dealing with
physical objects, fools who invent things which merely work
in theory are instantly seen to be under an illusion. It is
not immediately obvious, however, in the vast field of social
and political life.

The following
story is one I have told before. When I was a young fellow of
22 or 23, one of my fellow students came to me one day, his
head aglow, absolutely fired with enthusiasm, and told me he
had just made an important, epoch-making invention. Oh, I
said, that is nice; what are you going to do with it? Well,
he said, I'll have to go and see Ratinger — our
professor of mechanical engineering at the university —
and tell him about it. No sooner said than done, and off he
went. Ratinger was not free at the moment and so the student
came back; he had been given an appointment for later on. So
I said to him: Why don't you tell me about it in the
meantime? We have some time to spare. Tell me about your
invention. It was a very clever thing. He had invented a
steam engine that needed just a very small amount of coal to
heat it up; after that no more coal would be needed, for a
special mechanism kept it going of its own accord. One merely
had to start it up. This was certainly epoch-making! You will
be wondering why we do not have it today. I got him to
explain it all to me and then told him: You know, that is
really clever; but if one looks at the whole thing it is no
different from wanting to get a railway truck going by
getting into it and pushing as hard as you can from inside.
Someone standing outside can, of course, get it to move, but
anyone inside will not get it to move a millimetre, even if
they apply the same amount of energy. This is what it all
came down to.

Things can be
extremely logical and clever, developed by applying all kinds
of technical principles, and they may still be nonsense,
having been thought up without taking account of reality.
What matters is not to be merely clever, or logical, but to
relate to reality. In the end the student never went to see
the professor.

When one is
dealing with physical matter and mechanics, such a thing will
soon be obvious. But in social and political affairs, and
with reference to what in its widest sense may be defined as
making everyone happy, it will not be immediately obvious.
You can easily put forward ideas of exactly this kind; people
will be impressed and believe you. Yet it is all a matter of
being inside the truck and pushing from there. A time will
come when a certain basic characteristic of the present time
may actually be labelled with a particular name, a name that
will typify a way of thinking which at heart is utterly
illusory and unreal. I am very sure that in future people
will speak of early twentieth century
‘Wilsonianism’. For Wilson's ideas are typical of
those of someone who wants to push a railway truck from
inside.

All the basic
ideas of ‘Wilsonianism’ which make such an
impression today are utterly unreal, though they also have a
major influence on people for other reasons. They are
powerful for the very reason that they cannot be realized.
Any attempt to implement them it would soon show them to be
meaningless. But people are able to imagine they could be
implemented. If we were able to implement Wilsonian ideas,
world philistinism would be realized throughout the world.
Woodrow Wilson
[ Note 2 ]
really deserves to be made the universal saviour of general
philistinism. Of course, philistines would not actually do
all that well in a world organized by Wilson, which anyway
cannot be realized, but at least they imagine that if
Wilson's ideas were to conquer the world we would be able to
live according to our ideals.

A time will
come when people say: At the beginning of the twentieth
century a peculiar ideal arose, which was to make the world
into a perfect image of philistine, or bourgeois, ideals.
Wilson's ideas will be analysed one day and presented as
typical of the early twentieth century.

You see, we
have not only small but also big examples of illusory ideas
in our time. These illusions and unreal ideas are held not by
otherworldly sects, but by groups whose beliefs spread far
and wide.

Important and
vital genuine truths must now be proclaimed to the world. For
the reasons and because of the kind of conditions we have
been discussing, they will show little relationship to the
general opinions of today. Different conditions have to be
created to enable people to grasp the truth. The truths which
must inevitably come up are repulsive to many people today;
they are thoroughly uncomfortable. The truths people like and
ask for are convenient truths, for that is the way people are
today.

Some of these
uncomfortable truths will have to be presented in the course
of these lectures. They need to be made known out of a
feeling of responsibility, and above all they must relate not
only to the physical plane. They must cut across the
illusions people have of the physical plane and offer reality
rather than fantasy. The most unrealistic and fantasy-ridden
people today are those who consider themselves to be more or
less entirely realistic. One makes the strangest discoveries
in this respect.

I was recently
sent a kind of lexicon listing the names of writers.
[ Note 3 ]
It purports to list the names of
all writers who have a connection with Judaism and anything
which seeks to bring Judaism to realization in this world. I
am one of the writers listed in the book, the reason being
that, according to the author of the lexicon, I have many
similarities with Ignatius de Loyola who is stated to have
founded the Jesuits precisely because of his Judaism.
Furthermore, I come from a border region between Germans and
Slavs — which is where I happen to have been born,
though my family certainly do not come from there — and
apparently the fact that I come from there indicates that I
am Jewish in origin — I have no idea why. This does not
really surprise me, for I think you will agree that even
odder things are published today. But the lexicon also
includes Hermann Bahr as someone who is promoting Judaism
— I was merely leafing through the book. Yet he is an
out-and-out Upper Austrian. It is really and truly impossible
to think of any way in which he can be connected with Jewish
blood or the like. Nevertheless, this literary lexicon quotes
a well-known literary historian as saying that Hermann Bahr
definitely had Jewish traits.

Well, when I
was said to be Jewish on one occasion — these things
are not new — I had a photograph of my certificate of
baptism made. Hermann Bahr also had to jump through those
hoops, because a literary historian had said he was Jewish.
[ Note 4 ]
Bahr wanted to
establish the truth. The literary historian then said: Well,
his grandfather may have been a Jew. But it simply is not
possible to find anything in Bahr's family which is not
absolutely Upper Austrian German. This was of course an
embarrassment for the literary historian, but he would stick
to is opinion. He went so far as to say that if Hermann Bahr
were actually to present the certificates of baptism for the
last twelve generations to show that he did not have a drop
of Jewish blood rom anywhere, then he, the historian, would
believe in reincarnation if forced to do so. So you see, the
reason for believing in reincarnation is a highly peculiar
one in the case of this renowned and widely-read literary
historian.

There are
times today when it is really difficult to take what is said
by famous people at all seriously. It is a pity, of course,
that it is so difficult to convince the wider public of this.
People are rather in the habit of believing in authority,
despite the fact that modern people do not believe in
authority at all, of course! Such, at least, is their
opinion. Yesterday we were able to learn something about the
opinions people have of themselves.

Today, when
people's basic instincts sometimes take them so far from the
truth, it is extremly difficult to accept the truths relating
to the region which borders immediately on the physical
world. To characterize anything relating to this region one
has to appeal to healthy, incorrupt minds, and this presents
the greatest difficulties one can imagine. For when it comes
to the truths which must now be made known, the whole
constitution of the human soul will be affected even if
people merely get to know them, let alone gain direct
perception of them.

External
knowledge about the physical world has a certain effect — let
us say on the human head. But truths which go deep, even if
only to the depth where they relate to the world immediately
next to the physical world, touch the whole human being and
not only the head. To proclaim such truths one must be able
to depend on a sound, incorrupt mind.

In many
spheres of life today a sound, incorrupt mind is almost a
rarity, whilst unsound, corrupt minds are far from uncommon.
And the way individuals accept truths today strongly reveals
the particular nature of their life of instincts and drives,
the whole constitution of their souls, and their state of
mind. People with corrupt instincts who are unwilling to
apply some degree of discipline to their life-styles quickly
tend to take an attitude which is completely determined by
the base mind, particularly when the truths to be accepted
relate to the world bordering on the physical world. This
happens only too easily. If people do not take a healthy
objective interest in what goes on in the world, if they are
essentially only interested in anything that relates to
themselves, this will often corrupt their mind and attitudes
to such an extent that they do not have the right instincts
for occult truths and particularly for truths relating to the
world bordering on the physical world.

With respect
to the physical world and anything relating to it, and to all
the great advances humanity has made, I think I can say that
physical nature makes sure this corruption does not go too
far in human minds. People are confined within the Limits
imposed by physical nature; they cannot get very far with
their instincts and have to obey the laws of nature. When we
move from the physical world into the one bordering on it, we
are no longer on those leading reins; guidance has to take
another form and a different, inner certainty is needed. This
is only possible, however, if the mind is incorrupt as we go
beyond the physical level; otherwise we lose all control in
that other region where we are no longer controlled by
physical nature, nor by social and traditional prejudices. We
are suddenly quite free and cannot bear such freedom. For
instance, the physical world has many ways of preventing
people from lying: If someone were to say at 6 o'clock in the
evening that the sun had just come up, nature would soon
demonstrate this to be wrong. It is like this with many
things relating to the physical world. If people insist on
talking nonsense about things relating to the higher worlds,
even if it is only the one immediately next to our own, the
physical world will not immediately show them to be wrong.
This, then, is the reason why people may lose all control if
they rush to escape the discipline which is imposed in the
physical world.

Here we have
one of the great problems which may arise when truths
relating to the non-physical world are presented. Yet the
answer always has to be that it is simply necessary to
present these truths today. We must not forget that truths
relating to the non-physical world cannot be received in the
same frame of mind as truths relating to the physical world.
To take them in we must slightly loosen the etheric and
astral bodies; otherwise we shall only hear words. The state
of mind has to be such — and with reference to the phenomena
of the subjective inner life it merely is a state of mind
— that for any real understanding of the things of the
spirit one has to loosen the etheric and astral bodies a
little. This loosening should only be a means of gaining
understanding of the world of the spirit. It must not become
an end in itself; this would be a very serious matter.

Imagine —
to take an extreme case — someone comes to an
anthroposophical lecture, not in order to gain insight into
the realms of the spirit, which would be the right thing, but
because he thinks this is truly mystical. As he listened he
would let the words flow through him, as it were, because
this would slightly loosen the ether body and the astral
body. People certainly do come to lectures of this kind,
sometimes also to those on pseudospiritual science, and
listen in a kind of sleepy ecstasy; they are not really
interested in the content, but more in the feeling of
voluptuous pleasure which comes when the ether body and the
astral body go partly outside the physical body. There may be
other situations in life when to be thus ‘given
up’, or ‘warm’, is a good thing; it is no
good at all when it comes to revealing the truths relating to
things of the spirit.

This must be
properly understood. If spiritual truths are rightly
understood, and if people are in all seriousness following the
lines of thought used to develop concepts which may make the
world of the spirit accessible to our understanding, their
humanity will be enhanced and they will learn the things
which have to be known at the present time for the salvation
and further development of humanity. People who take these
truths into themselves in the right way will also find their
drives and instincts ennobled and raised to a higher level.
By merely listening to spiritual truths they go through a
development that is for the good.

Anyone who is
not willing to accept anthroposophical truths in this sense
but is perhaps doing so from some kind of purely personal
interest — let us say he wants to belong to a society
and has not found another one which suits him as well as the
Anthroposophical Society does — anyone who comes to
this Society with personal interests may indeed find that
spiritual truths will first of all activate low instincts,
and perhaps even the lowest of the low. It therefore does not
come as a surprise that people who really should not be
members but nevertheless do come and hear such things, find
their lowest instincts brought to life. It is something that
cannot be avoided at this time, for these things have to be
made public and it is difficult to draw the line. The right
way will only be found if those who have the inner
justification to be part of such a movement use their
wide-awake judgement and take themselves to task. People who
in any way bring personal interests to bear, before or after
leaving the Society, merely show that they never should have
been members. And I think it is not really difficult to
distinguish between personal interests and interest in
objective understanding.

But it is not
surprising that in the situation which has arisen because it
is now necessary to make things generally known, it happens
again and again that some of the instincts of the lower human
nature come to the fore. The potential dangers must be
consciously and clearly considered and ways must be found to
correct them. If we take the right attitude to these dangers
we shall certainly be able to meet them. This is very much a
time — it is part of the chaotic situation we are in
— when aberrations of this kind are far from uncommon.
The tragic situation of today makes tremendous demands on the
powers of many people. It is true to say that people who were
not in the habit of working hard in the general rather than
merely personal interest really have learned to work hard in
the last three years. Many people have learned to work and to
acquire general interests.

People who
rightly belong to our movement will have come to it out of
more than personal interest. Nevertheless, the present age
does offer enormous opportunities for a kind of lazy outsider
attitude. The specific constellation created by the war means
that some people have really nothing to occupy them. If they
are part of our movement they will also be aware of it.
Before the war we had many lecture tours; a whole raft of
people would get together and travel from one lecture to the
next. Outer interest may have been lacking, but excitement
could be found, and if this did not come from outside, people
created their own excitements. This has now become difficult.
It cannot be done. However, some people have not found a way
of occupying themselves usefully. And that is why a lazy
outsider attitude is to be found in our ranks exactly at this
time, with people whiling away the time by creating all kinds
of opposition. Being unable to get the excitement of
travelling from lecture cycle to lecture cycle they find
other ways of entertaining themselves. This merely shows the
true nature of the interest that formerly made them travel
from lecture cycle to lecture cycle.

When there is
an inner obligation to represent anthroposophical truths
before the world, in all seriousness and with dignity, you
also know that more than fifty out of an audience of a
hundred may well become opponents. That is a law; it is the
way it is. If these fifty per cent of such people do not
actually become opponents, there will be a reason for this,
but it will not be because they are consistent. For reasons
which have already been given and others that will be given,
this is how matters are. Someone who represents
anthroposophical truths is therefore not in the least
surprised if there is opposition. We might take up the points
that these opponents keep coming up with all the time, things
they generally know better than anyone else to be untrue
— for they do of course know that they are not true
— but it would be much more useful to consider the
sources from which such Opposition has Sprung.

All kinds of
peculiar things will happen when we do so, and we shall then
no longer feel inclined to take up the points that our
opponents want us to take up. Instead, we are going to
discover their true reasons. This can sometimes be more of an
effort than to take up the points the opposition is making.
Think of all the years in which lectures have been given here
and how it has been necessary over and over again to say the
same things I am also saying today, though this is always
pointed out. But it is necessary to consider them with
profound seriousness and dignity, and to consider them in a
way which is fitting for an anthroposophical movement.

Believe me, I
have more important things to do, if I am to lead this
movement and be fully responsible for it, than to take
account of the fact that three or four people, or even more
if you will, get together and invent all kinds of gossip. I
have more important things to do and never feel the
inclination to go into such matters. But unfortunately this
is so little understood! Even within this Society, there is
more interest in excitement and sensation than genuine
scientific interest. From the scientific point of view it is,
for instance, interesting to study not only useful but also
poisonous plants, but one has to find the right point of
view. Very few of those who profess to follow
anthroposophical spiritual science have even the least notion
of the immense seriousness and importance of what it really
should be. Forgive me for saying this. If there were the
right seriousness and if the importance of this were really
understood, people's attitudes would in many respects be very
different from what they are. Of course I am not saying that
people should turn their attention elsewhere. Rather the
opposite: We should not turn our attention away from the
phenomena which go hand in hand with the will to destroy this
anthroposophical movement. But we have to find the right
approach.

People may, for
instance, write volumes in the way in which I have
contradicted myself in my written works and with reference to
all kinds of other things. One way of countering this would
be to say that Luther was shown to have contradicted himself
in hundreds of ways, not just a few dozen. His answer was:
These asses are talking of contradictions in my works. I wish
they would make the effort to try and understand just one of
the things that appears to be in contradiction to other things!
[ Note 5 ]
So one way would
be to point out something like this. But there is no need for
this. For when people speak in opposition today it is not
because they are interested in finding and revealing
contradictions but for quite a different reason.

Someone
[ Note 6 ]
offered a manuscript to Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag,
[ Note 7 ]
for instance. The
publishing house was unable to use it and therefore returned
it to the author. From this moment the author, who until then
had been running after me wherever I went, became an
opponent. The real reason was not that he had found
contradictions. If that were the real reason we might use
Luther's words. But we cannot do that, for the individual
concerned can only be seen in his true colours if we know he
is giving vent to his spleen because the publishing house was
not able to publish his book. This was the real reason. So if
we simply listen to the things people say, we shall have
little opportunity for getting at the truth — just as
little, perhaps, as the literary historian who would convert
to reincarnation if this allowed him to continue in the
belief that Hermann Bahr had Jewish connections. Conversion
would be necessary if he were to be shown certificates of
Christian baptism for Hermann Bahr's ancestors down to the
twelfth generation.

Much is said
about the courage which people are showing today. To assert
the truths humanity needs today, in the sense I have spoken
of, will need quite a different kind of courage — inner
courage. But the place where this courage should be in the
soul is occupied by cowardice, reluctance to take action, and
this is tremendously widespread. In many respects it is due
to this cowardice that anthroposophical spiritual science
finds it so difficult to make its way today. It will make its
way. But one should not sit back and accept; one should not
think that things will go the right way without human
involvement. One thing you will have to get used to —
and it will be different from what you have been used to so
far — is that I myself will have to be a lot less
lenient in some respects than I have been until now. Do not
think this is because I have changed my will and intention;
you must look for the reasons in the existing situation.

You will have
to understand that I cannot let the movement which I have to
represent before the world go to the dogs in any old way.
Forgive the expression. Higher duties are involved than
people may dream of. I cannot be involved in whatever
excitements or sensations some group or set may be desiring.
Consideration must be given to many general and more
important interests and impulses than to the purely personal
ambitions which rule one set of people or another. To find
the right way of presenting anthroposophy we simply must be
able to set aside the purely personal element which for many
is about the only thing that interests them today.

And so I must
conclude here today with something which I have also been
saying in all the other places where I have been speaking
these days. There are many members of our anthroposophical
science of the spirit who are truly dedicated and who have a
clear idea of the seriousness of our work. But again and
again there are others who do not belong and who behave in a
way that simply would not happen if membership of the Society
were limited to those who rightfully belong to it. Things
keep coming up among members which are far removed from what
is really intended; some of these can only be said to relate
to what is really intended if one takes a totally distorted
view.

Things are said
by groups of people who have to be ignored — for our
real interests go far beyond giving one's attention to the
ambitions which are alive in those groups — things are
said there, and people are beginning to believe them, which
have no more to do with our true intentions than a dung
beetle has to do with a pendulum clock. It is quite
impossible to see how they go together. Yet fantastic stories
created out of base instincts that are left to run riot are
set in circulation. And this despite the fact that the people
who generate them know full well that not a word is true.
Such things can be explained in natural science, but we must
also draw the logical conclusion and take the necessary
actions. In the first place I am going to impose two rules an
myself. Anyone who is going to speak of the one rule without
the other, will be saying something which is not true. I have
made these two rules known in all the places where I have
been giving lectures in recent months.

In principle, I
shall no longer continue to give private interviews to
members of the Anthroposophical Society. For all those
private interviews have led to reports which are full of
lies. I have better things to do than refute the tales told
by people who let their imaginations run riot, and so there
is no other way but to discontinue these private interviews.
Some individuals have a true esoteric impulse, and I will
find other ways of making sure they are able to progress; it
will just take while. The measure should not prevent anyone
from progressing in esoteric development. But, generally
speaking, all private interviews must now stop. This, then,
is the first rule. Do not come to me, as people have done in
some local groups, and say it is a harsh rule. No, do not
come to me, go to those who are responsible.

The second
thing is that I release everyone who has ever had a private
interview with me from the promise not to talk about it, if
they wish to do so. Anyone can tell anything they like about
what has happened or been said in those private interviews
— that is, in so far as they wish to do so. I am not
going to prevent anyone from telling the whole truth about
anything ever discussed with me in a private interview.

These two rules
go together. The one does not apply without the other. And,
as I said, if you think they are harsh, go to those who are
responsible. Unless I am less lenient in these matters than I
have been until now, the problems I am speaking of will not
stop. As I said, I shall find other ways to make sure this
does not harm anyone's esoteric development. Ways and means
will be found. But, people being as they are today, it is not
possible to establish such a science without things going
badly astray on occasion, with people always jumping to the
wrong conclusions. This is why there will have to be these
rules.

People who take
a serious and dignified approach to our spiritual-scientific
development may find it difficult to understand how such
things could come about, but they will accept the two rules
as inevitable. From now on, everything will be entirely in
the open. For there is nothing there which needs to shun the
light! This is what is so shameful about it all: The truth
and the whole truth could be told by everybody without
leaving the least stain on our movement. But people have
grown attached to something which has survived in our work as
a continuation of earlier practices: to have individual
interviews. 1f talking to individuals had not resulted in
lies, the rule would not have been necessary. But everything
ever said to any member can be truthfully told. Our movement
can only gain from the truth — go and tell as much as
you like. The truth will not be affected by the lies which
are told; but it must not even appear to be affected, for it
is important for humanity that anything presented out of a
background of spiritual science is presented in a serious and
dignified way.

So let me
repeat once more: Without causing any loss to those who are
seriously seeking esoteric development, I will generally no
longer give private interviews for members. Everyone is free
to tell everything they want about the interviews which have
been given, but it must be the truth. I release everyone from
whatever vow of silence there may be. But it should only be
because individuals want to tell others for their own sake;
they do not have to do it for my sake. And I have no
objection to people spreading it about far and wide that
these rules exist and are characteristic of our movement.
Then the world will realize the infamous nature of the things
that are so often said, especially about our Society.